US2499580A - Reflector bowl - Google Patents

Description

J. S. HAMEL REFLECTOR BOWL March 7, 1950 Filed July 9, 1948 INVENTOR SamaeZHame Patented 1 Mar. 7, 1950 REFLECTOR BOWL Jacob Samuel Hamel, West Islip, N. Y., assignor to Lightolier, Incorporated, a corporation of New York Application July 9, 1948, Serial No. 37,817

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to the artof illumination and especially to reflector bowls for lamps.

Where conventional direct and indirect type lamps use one central bulb surrounded by a conventional reflector bowl for the indirect light and a plurality of individual bulbs surrounded by a conventional shade supported by the bowl for the direct light, the complete unit is bulky, relatively expensive utilizing as it does a plurality of sockets and bulbs and wasteful of light as the direct rays of the individual bulbs will spread in all directions and hence only a small proportion thereof will be directed downwardly by the shade.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a reflector bowl that will afford both direct and indirect illumination from a conventional source of electric light, which bowl is attractive in appearance, relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, which will direct the rays of light from a bulb therein both upwardly towards the ceiling and downwardly to a useful area for reading and will also diffuse the illumination in a horizontal direction to prevent glare and eye strain, which bowl requires but a single bulb therein and is devoid of additional reflector elements or the like which would add to the cost of the unit.

According to the invention these objects are accomplished by the arrangement and combination of elements hereinafter described and particularly recited in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. l is a fragmentary cross sectional side elevational view of a reflector type lamp showing the bowl thereon with parts broken away and mounting a lamp shade,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary cross sectional side elevational view of the bowl on a larger scale,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the bowl partly in cross section and on a larger scale taken along line 3-3 of Fig. l and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the bowl on a larger scale taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawing the bowl comprises a substantially cup-shaped member I I which may be pressed from clear glass or molded from suitable transparent plastic, and the wall I 2 of which tapers inwardly from the mouth 13 thereof to the edge M of the base l thereof. The base l5 as is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, slopes downwardly and inwardly from edge I4 to an annular shoulder it, about an axial circular opening ll in the base 15. Opening IT has a depend- 2 ing rim I 8 desirably with a bead l9 integral therewith, about the outer periphery of said rim, shoulder it and I bead l 9 defining an annular groove 23 therebetween. I

The wall E2 of the bowl which is smooth on its inner face 24 has, on its outer face 25, a plurality of parallel, substantially vertical triangular grooves or flutes 26 extending from edge 14 to mouth is of the bowl and the outer face 25 has a translucent enameled coating 21 which may be applied in any conventional manner.

The base l5 of the bowl which is transparent, is smooth on its sloping outer face and has a plurality of annular steps or terraces 29 on the inner face thereof, four of which are illustratively shown and which in conjunction with the smooth outer face of the base form four prisms A, B, C and D. The upper face ill of each of'the terraces slopes downwardly slightly towards opening il in the base and is preferably stippled or'roughened for the purpose hereinafter set forth. The side wall of each of the terraces is substantially vertical and may have a plurality of vertical triangular notches 33 therein with the apex of each of the notches extending part way through the terraces.

The reflector bowl H, may be mounted in conventional manner by being positioned over the mouth 35 of the conventional husk -36 of the standard reflector type lamp with the depending rim 3 of the bowl encompassed by the rim 3! of the husk and with annular shoulder l6 seated on said rim 3l. One or more set screws 38 are provided extending transversely through the wall of the husk to engage the wall of groove 23 securely to retain the reflector bowl on the husk.

A lamp shade 39. of conventional construction may be used. Desirably such shade may have a support bracket 4! at the top thereof with a U- shaped bend l2 therein whereby the shade may be accurately centered on the reflector bowl I l as shown in Fig. 1.

With a light bulb 43 screwed in socket 44 in housing 36, the lamp is ready for use.

The operation of the reflector bowl hereinabove described in as follows:

When the bulb 43 is lit by the turning of switch 45, raysof light emanate in all directions from filament F as shown by dot and dash lines.

The ray of light designated by the letter a will pass directly out of the mouth l3 of the bowl toward the ceiling, the rays of light designated by the letters I) and 0 will hit the inner face 24 of the bowl H and be reflected upwardly therefrom and thereupon pass through the mouth of the bowl. Rays 1) and c in addition to being partially reflected upon hitting face 24, will also pass through wall I2 and again be reflected upon hitting the outer face 25, the enameled coating 2'! aiding in such reflection. It is to be noted that due to the refraction of the rays as they pass through wall I2 the reflected ray from outer face will have a smaller angle of incidence than when reflected'from inner face 24. It is thus seen that substantially all of the light from rays b and c is reflected through the mouth I3 of the bowl.

However, it is desired that the wall of the bowl be illuminated so that the latter will glow, thereby also illuminating the lamp shade, and that there be no glare from suchillumination. To this end the outer face 25 is provided with the plurality of flutes 26 above described. When a ray of light which passes through the wall I2 hits against the enameled outer surface '27 thereof, a portion of such light will be reflected at an angleas shown in Fig. 4 due to the notches 26. Thus practically no direct beams of light will shine through the Wall I2 hence there will be no glare and there will be a diffused soft glow on the outer face 25 of wall I2. Ray d which is a horizontal ray, willnot be reflected upwardly but will pass through the wall I2 and hit the walls of notches 26 thereby being reflectecl'as above described to provide a soft glow.

With respect to rays e, f, g and h these will hit the stippled surfaces 3| of the terraces 29. Referring-specifically to ray e, when it hits the stippled surface 3| of prism A, the stippled surface will in part diffuse the ray e so that there will be no glare and the ray will be refracted downwardly. By reason of the prism A the ray of light .e as it emerges from the smooth face of prism A as ray e will be bent as shown toward the opening I1 of the bowl which is also true of rays f, g and h.

Thus we see that the usable area of relatively intense light through the base will be between the extensions of the refracted rays e and h, and the lamp shade 34 is desirably of such size that no bright ray of light will abut thereagainst so the outermost ray e will pass through the open mouth 39' of the shade.

As a result of the construction herein described, by the use of buta single bulb in conjunction with the reflector bowl II, there are three distinct and separate areas-of light, one through the open mouth I3 of the bowl which is directed towards the ceiling and which is very bright and glaring so that it will have adequate intensity to be reflected downward from the ceiling for indirect lighting; a second area through the wall I2 of the bowl which is diffused and soft, thereby illuminating the shade 39 therearound with a mellow herein, casts a bright light for indirect illumination, a diffused concentrated light of sufficient intensity for reading and a mellow glow through the shade which will not shine on the eyes of the reader with resultant discomfort thereto.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claim, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and-not in alimiting sense.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesis:

A reflector bowl .for a source of light, said bowl comprising a substantially cup-shaped memher having a substantially verticalwall to encompass such source of light and a substantially transparent base, said wall having a smooth inner surface and a plurality of substantially vertical parallel notches in the outer surface thereof, said outer surface having a translucent coating thereon, said base being inclined downwardly and inwardly from the lower edge of said wall and having alplurality of annular terraces on the inner surface thereof to direct the rays of light fromsuch source of light downwardly in a predetermined area, said terraces each having a stippled upper surface and a substantially upright side wall having a plurality of vertical notches therein.

JACOB SAMUEL HAMEL.

REFERENCES CITED The ffollowing references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES'PATENTS Number Name Date 755,197 Wadsworth Mar. 22, 1904 1,480,599 Cravath et a1 Jan. 15, 1924 1,543,605 Harrison June 23, 1925 v1,881,767 Lundy Oct. 11, 1932 2,043,193 Dunn et al Jan. 2, 1936 2,068,246 Rolph Jan. 19, 1937

Images